in March we had another successful folk club meet, which despite being held in the middle of Carneval, was well attended with over 60 people in the hall at the back of the "Gaststätte zum Schützenhaus" in Graurheindorf. With "only" eight different acts this time it was, however, somewhat less hectic on the stage than the previous two meets. Moreover, we finally managed to have our long awaited evening of "Pipes and Drums", this time with real "Pipes and Drums" instead of virtual ones:

To crown the first half of the evening we had the jet black pipes of the "Gaitas" from Galicia in north west Spain expertly played by Eva and accompanied by Ana on the drums. To crown the second half we had the Uilleann (literally "elbow") pipes from Ireland, played by Tom Kannmacher.

So we had a truly wonderful atmosphere and haunting pipe melodies, which crept under the skin, softly caressing the soul, on their way to the centre of the brain.In addition to the wonderful Atlantic Celtic folk melodies a very broad and colourful musical spectrum meant once again that a wide range of differing tastes were catered for with songs from:Robert ("Barbecue Bob") Hicks, Mance Lipscomb, Lead Belly, Ulli Langenscheidt, Jagger/Richards and Ralph McTell und Neil Young to mention just a few.....

John Hurd, roving reporter and attributed photographer extraordinaire to the courts of St. James, Johns & Barrys from the "Bonn English Network" was amongst us again, although one would hardly have noticed, as he moves so unobtrusively and without using a flash, until one reads his astounding report and marvels at his photographic masterpieces:http://www.english-network.de/folk-club-pipes-drums-and-much-more

(Don't forget to click at the bottom of the page " MORE PHOTOS HERE " for a further treasure trove of photos.) - Do have a butchers at the "featured video" too while you are there on the BEN site, although it's a bit of a "mystery" to me.

We are most fortunate in having John Hurd amongst us, as in addition to the skills that you have just observed for yourselves, he is also one of the few people in the room who have had considerable first hand experiences of folk clubs in their youth and who thus fully understands our "mission" and is a great asset with his knowledgable contributions during the debates we continually have about improving the club during a period of quite phenomenal growth, whilst still holding true to our original founding principles. Thank you John!

We have always tried to keep the folk club blog as bilingually balanced as possible, but there is invariably an inherent tendency towards the English. However, we noticed at the very beginning, and this is continually reconfirmed to us as time goes by, what an exceedingly good command of English the vast majority of you have, so we try not to loose too much sleep over the slight imbalance.

This month though you are especially well blessed in having both John Hurd's report in English and Detlef's report in German. Both reports are very well written and well researched and both John and Detlef are excellent wordsmiths in their respective languages.

Going to the folk club is a bit like taking a long walk in the countryside through varied terrain, containing many differing types of flora and fauna, and then the following day in front of an open fire pouring over a detailed map with reference books at hand to see exactly where you were and what you passed by, and what passed you by.

If there was some particular music which you heard at the folk club which you liked, but were perhaps unfamiliar with, then use John or Detlef's report (or preferably both) as your detailed map to start from and then use Google and Wikipedia to research back into the roots of the particular music which you liked. You'll probably be amazed with what you find and it's probably a good idea to do it at the weekend rather than in the week!

If you have any questions, comments or queries of any kind you are most welcome to post these on the blog or on qype or simply by e-mail. We intend to have further "Singers' Nights" with the following featured instruments during the course of the year: Strings, Saxophones, Pianos, Harps, A Cappello. When we know the firm dates these will be posted on the blog. If you have any suggestions or comments on this topic, please post.

In April on Friday, the 1st of April, we have another "Singers' Night", as the stream of singers and musicians wishing to play is perpetually greater than the space available, this time without a particular "featured instrument", but with such a great variety of instruments lined up, that one could almost imagine that in April, every instrument imaginable, with the exception of Pipes and Drums, are "featured".This time in addition to the two residents:Barry L. Roshto (USA) Piano and Vocals andJohn Harrison (GB) Guitar, Dobro, Blues Harp, Vocals

and thanks to the new statistics now available we can signal a new "Folk Club Premiere" for the following instruments in April:Dulcimer, Banjo, Saxophone, Double bass, Piano accordion & Fluteand as ever, without electrical amplifiers and totally unplugged in order that you can hear and enjoy these wonderful acoustic instruments in their full natural glory.

We wish you great pleasure with the music and look forward to seeing you (again) soon,